Kabul, December 07: The top US commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, has expressed doubt about the possibility of a troop withdrawal from the war-torn country by 2014.
Speaking on the ABC network’s “Good Morning America” program on Monday, Petraeus said, “I think no commander ever is going to come out and say, I’m confident that we can do this.”
“But again, I don’t think there are any sure things in this kind of endeavor,” added Petraeus, who is also the commander of US-led forces. “And I wouldn’t be honest with you and with the viewers if I didn’t convey that.”
He said he was not confident that the Afghan government and security forces would be stable and competent enough to take over from the US-led foreign forces in 2014, as envisaged by Washington.
He also expressed surprise at Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s recent call on the United States to reduce military operations in the country and stop “the intrusiveness into the daily Afghan life,” but added that he was not deterred by the criticism.
“I’m a military commander,” Petraeus said. “I’ve got a military mission. Karzai is the leader of a sovereign country.”
“He has a political foundation that he has to maintain. And we do need occasionally, I think, to walk a mile or a kilometer in his shoes and in these mountains to understand the challenge that he has,” Petraeus added.
Commenting on the fact that the Taliban recently increased attacks on foreign troops in Afghanistan, Petraeus said it was “hard to say” how much of the country the insurgents control, but acknowledged that “the Taliban is resilient” and the war against them is no conventional fight.
Over 150,000 US, NATO, and other US-led troops are now fighting the Taliban, but nine years into the war, they still have no clear exit strategy.
In addition, hundreds of civilians have lost their lives in US-led airstrikes and ground operations in various parts of Afghanistan over the past few months, with Afghans becoming more and more outraged over the seemingly endless number of deadly assaults.
——–Agencies